Highly under-promising and completely over-delivering

It was all so innocent.

In an email exchange, Brian of Highly Subjective andCompletely Arbitrary mentioned he was looking to unload some of his extra cards, and asked if I wanted some of the Yankees. Sure, I said. I can always use them for TTMs and whatnot since I’m a disorganized collector who doesn’t have want lists. I gladly offered to pay for shipping, but Brian said I was doing him a favor.

Seriously, what kind of guy sends a flat rate full of Yankees, and says I’m doing him a favor? Brian, that’s who.

I was expecting a lot of cards I already had that would be great for TTMs, and to be fair, there is a ton of TTM fodder. But Brian also massively undersold a bunch of the cards he’d be sending my way. I was expecting a lot of dupes, but honestly, that was far from the case. The box had it all!

I’m not even sure where to start, so I guess I’ll show off some vintage first, which I wasn’t expecting in the least. The oldest card:

Yep, 1955 Bowman. Great set. The most surprising card?

Wow. A Munson 1976 Kellogg’s! Holy smokes. It’s in excellent condition too. I believe I only have one other Kellogg’s card in my collection, and definitely not Munson. This is a treasure.

Ok, fast forward from vintage to present:

Those 2016 Bowman’s Best cards are great. I didn’t even know these existed, but those are legit cards from 2016 that feature Sanchez and Judge in Big League uniforms talking about Big League accomplishments. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s getting harder to acquire Sanchez cards, so this is very appreciated.

Two Big Mikes I didn’t have! I was surprised to check my “haves” list and that the 2016 Gyspy Queen wasn’t on there. I guess I’ve been slacking on his newer stuff.

There were some great minor league cards too. Ruben Rivera and Mark Hutton were featured in a ton of products, by the way. 

Speaking of the minors, how about this managerial card??

 

I have fond memories of Tate Seefriend as a Binghamton Met. He was a great power hitter. I might try and locate an address for him to try and get a TTM autograph.

Refractors and shiny cards were aplenty as well! I really like the pink Dellin.

And a couple other personal favors, although I’m still not doing the package justice.

Brian, I know you said I did you a favor, but that just can’t be so. This was a classic case of under-promising and over-delivering. Thank you for all of these!

Mail forwarding doesn't work

Those of you who have traded with me know I've moved a few times over the past few years. However, we're officially homeowners, and this should be a permanent address for a long time.

I set up mail forwarding this past July, where any piece of mail (outside of junk mail) should be forwarded to my new address for one year from the start date, which was in July. I've definitely thought about all the mail, including TTMs, that I've probably lost due to change of addresses over the years.

On Saturday, my wife told me that the current tenants of our previous address found her on Facebook and reached out because they had a stack of our mail. Luckily it's only about a half mile away, so we stopped by yesterday, and sure enough, they had a decent sized plastic bag of mail for us. There were some holiday cards, and notably, a few envelopes for me with...you guessed it...cards in them.

I felt bad because two of them were from November, and I never properly thanked the senders because, well, I didn't get them. There was also a TTM, which I'll share soon.

I'm just frustrated because I don't understand why these wouldn't have been forwarded? It makes no sense. I have opened up a claim with the post office to investigate, although I'm sure that won't get me anywhere.

Anyhow, I owe some belated thank yous! First off, Mark Hoyle sent some awesome cards. He always takes care of my with some old Knicks and Syracuse players too.

 

Thanks, Mark! This was from November, so better late than never.

Next up, Brian of Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary...also from November! Brian was nice enough to send three HOFers for Joey, and a few goodies for me as well. The Tinos are a great blast from the '90s past. I definitely didn't have that minor league Bernie, either. Never even seen it!

 

Thanks, Brian!

Lastly, this one was just a week old, but Tony Burbs of Wrigley Roster Jenga sent a bunch of Holiday Yanks and a few others!

I'm glad these cards weren't lost forever. Thanks, guys!

SuperTraders #17: Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary

SuperTrader Brian from Highly Subjective and CompletelyArbitrary has the distinct honor of being the first person to send cards to my new address. It helped make my new home feel a little homier by going to the mailbox and receiving a card package.

The PWE was divided evenly with both cards for me and cards for Joey’s HOF binder (which I admittedly need to provide an update on, as well as update the tab above).

Here are the cards for me. I really like that ARod Topps 206 card. Yesterday I showed a few Fleer Metal cards with NYC as the backdrop, and now this. I do love when the city is incorporated. 

The rest of the cards were really a mixture that show just how the Yankees are no longer relying on these particular guys, and are now looking to a future with a completely new crop of youngsters. Mark Teixeira is in the last year of his contract. ARod is basically going to get cut loose any day now. Curtis Granderson homered at Yankee Stadium last night…as a Met. Robinson Cano signed his mega deal to rot away in Seattle for 10 years. CC is no longer the ace he once was, although has managed to still be one of the more effective starters on this year’s team. Regardless, these guys truly are part of the past now, which is just hard to believe. 

I really appreciate these six HOFers for my son. A solid group of players, and I’ll happily add them to his growing binder. As I’ve mentioned before, any card sent for Joey will always find a place in the binder I’ve been keeping for him.

Thanks for the cards, and the housewarming gift, Brian!